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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Oil Frustrates Me Yet Again!!

ARRGGGGHH!! That is the sentiment for this Oiler fan and many others after watching Detroit walk out of Rexall Place with a 3-2 win. There is no doubt the Red Wings were the better team on this night but the Oilers once again teased us by being so tantalizingly close to getting a much needed two points. They held off wave after wave after wave of Detroit attacks into the Edmonton zone until finally they could hold off no more as the Wings scored three times in the final 10 minutes. What makes the play of the Oilers so frustrating is their inability to want to shoot the puck. So many times last night an Edmonton forward would pass up a shot on goal to try and make that extra pass. On a two man advantage in the first, it seemed as if they were trying to kill the penalty themselves by passing it around. A coach once told me you will never score if you don’t shoot the puck on goal. Yes, the shot might get blocked but yes it might go off a skate or off a stick or off a body and into the goal. This endless passing of the puck on the power play around the perimeter is and always has been a waste of time. I don’t know why teams just don’t fire the puck on goal. At this time of year, it doesn’t matter how the puck goes in just as long as it does. SHOOT THE PUCK!!!!-----Home ice advantage??? Not in the WHL playoffs….at least not Tuesday nightThe Blades showed why they were the best road team in the league this season. Saskatoon wasn’t spectacular but they were solid as they spotted Lethbridge a 1-0 lead before taking Game 3 of their best of 7 against the Hurricanes by a score of 3-1. You have to like what Lorne Molleken has put together. There are no real stars on this team with the exception of Braden Holtby but they are a team that has three very good lines and a defence that is extremely solid. They will be tough to beat.Brandon is one game away from taking the brooms to Kootenay. They needed overtime to beat Kootenay 4-3. Matt Calvert’s 2nd goal of the game 255 into the 4th period was the winner.Michael Stickland had a goal and three assists for the Broncos as they take Game 3 of their series in Medicine Hat by a score of 5-2. Swift Current now leads that best of 7 2-1.In the Western Conference, Vancouver beat Prince George 3-2 to take a 3-0 lead in that series. Craig Cunningham getting the winner at the 1644 mark of period 4. The Giants unleashing 53 shots on PG goalie Kevin Armstrong as they move a game away from round 2. Cody Almond scored with three seconds left in regulation and then got the winner at the 1221 mark of overtime as the Kelowna Rockets beat Kamloops 3-2 for a 3-0 lead and Spokane beat Seattle 5-1 to take a 2-1 lead in that matchup. The results meant road teams were 6-0.--------Would Brendan Taman really be that bad? Rider fans have been spoiled with the performance of Eric Tillman in his time as general manager of the football team but words by Jim Hopson last week that he would be interested in speaking to Taman if he were interested has some Rider faithful wanting to jump ship. For those who are so dead set against Taman being a paid member of Riderville, I ask you this question??? Who do you want as GM if Tillman does not or can not continue in that position. Matt Dunigan??? Tom Higgins??? How about Carm Carteri or John Gormley or yours truly as the Riders can follow the recommendations of Roy Shivers when he left town. There are not many guys out there who are qualified right now. Taman can do what Tillman did and that is he can bring in players. If Eric is forced to give up his GM duties then I will have no problem in seeing what Taman can do. Who’s kidding who, it doesn’t matter who is brought in as that person will have his critics. Even Tillman despite all the good he has done since replacing Shivers still has a number of critics. Was every move made by Eric the right one? No! However his good moves far outnumber the bad ones.----------Is it time for NFL quarterbacks to have velcro flags on their belts. One would have to say yes after the league decides to hand out a 15 yard penalty if a quarterback is hit at or below the knees. So lemme get this straight, you can’t hit a QB high or low now. Why don’t we just encase these guys in a glass box or put a dress on them or something. I’m not in favour of this rule at all. I’m also not crazy about the league expanding the regular season to 17 or 18 games. That would mean the Super Bowl wouldn’t be played until mid-February. It gets damn cold in some NFL cities in February and weather shouldn’t play that much of an advantage. Can you imagine Rider fans if the CFL season was extended by another couple of weeks and a Western final went in Regina in December. Uh no thanks. Then again the way this winter has gone there could be snow on the ground when the green and white play their first pre-season game. Move the season up if you want to add games. Have the season start in the last weekend of August if you want but pushing things back doesn’t do anyone any good unless you play in a dome.---------One last thing. I heard the tail end of "The Drew Remenda Sports Show" last night and I had to laugh when our favourite wingnut from Calgary called. If you have heard the show, a caller from Cowtown named Jason(the guy who bought Brent Curvey’s ring) came on to question Rob Vanstone for his column on Kevin Glenn and how the Riders should have pursued him on Monday and to belittle the so-called “rumpled scribe”for having the opinion that the football team should have tried to sign Glenn after he was released. Kudos to Drew for basically telling this moron to get off of his show(which is something he should have done a long time ago) and to Jamie Nye for both sticking up for Rob. Had I been there I probably would have told Jason how many ways he can do you know what to himself and if he doesn’t know how to I would gladly send him an instruction manual. This guy was adamant back when Eric Tillman traded Kerry Joseph that Tillman and Hopson should resign and tried telling us he was buying a full page ad in which he and a lot of others were getting rid of their season tickets. I’m still waiting for that ad. He also tried to tell me that he had it on "good knowledge" that Eric received a substantial amount of money from Ole Miss for letting Kent Austin leave. Yeah OK and the sky is orange and men don't like porn!!!Not only is Rob a good friend of mine but he is one of the top sportswriters in this country and is one of the most respected sportswriters in this country. There aren’t many I would place above Rob in this country. Like Triple H, he is that damn good. Rob’s only problem is that he needs to realize there are only 24 hours in the day and he can’t work for 20 of them. One of the things that makes Regina a great sports city is the guys that cover the teams----all professionals in every sense of the word. I may not be part of the “fraternity” any more but I will defend people like Rob, Rod Pedersen, Lee Jones, etc. etc. etc because they are good---they are damn good and should be plying their trade in a bigger market. There is no doubt Rob could write for a national newspaper just like there is no doubt that Rod could call a game for an NHL team and that Lee has what it takes to work in a much bigger market than Regina. I just scratch the tip of the iceberg as there are many others (Warren Woods, Derek(start calling me Duke) Meyers, Murray McCormick, Tim Switzer etc. etc. etc )who are top notch at what they do.Jason, if you are reading this or if someone has to read it to you….I got two words for you…one starts with an F and if you can’t guess what the other one starts with well that’s your problem. For what its worth, I think not pursuing Kevin Glenn was the right thing to do. Its time to develop a quarterback and there are two here now with a third maybe coming. Those three being Darian Durant(who will be just fine this year), Dalton Bell and Chase Daniel.

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Bravo Mitch. I heard the end of the show last night too and good on Drew and Jamie for defending Rob. As I've told you before when you were a part of the show I don't know why you even give that guy two seconds of airtime because he is just a blowhard. All he does is embarass himself and embarasses the product that is being put out.

I couldn't agree with you more on the Oilers. My son told me Edmonton might actually win this one with about 12 minutes left and I said just wait. Detroit is just too good and when they keep coming at you like that well you saw the result. Edmonton isn't the only team thought that tries to make every goal one that can be the TSN HON.

I like Durant as our starter but I quantify that statement by saying I would like a veteran backup as Jyles and Bell have me wondering what happens if Durant gets hurt. Do you think they could make a deal to get Richie Williams from Hamilton??

Is this not the same guy you and Drew laughed off the air when he said he had it on good authority that Dominguez was going to Calgary for Ben Sankey?? He obviously doesn't realize that everyone thinks he is a joke. I'm guessing you don't miss idiots like that bothereing you on a daily basis do ya!

I've had the misfortune of the watching 3 Oiler games in the last week and it looks like these guys just don't care. Their best player, Hemsky, comes out in the paper sounding like a beaten dog, talking about them trying to make him a checker and then the rest of the team plays a game with no forecheck against the top tam of the last decade. I couldn't believe what I was watching. Management continues to load up on young offensive talent and then MacT has them play passive on the forecheck which of course translates into playing passive in the neutral zone and so on. If not for Rolly, this team would be in the Tavares/ Hedman sweepstakes. Normally I want them to make the playoffs so I can go watch some games, but I'll be driving the other way this spring to watch the Blades.

Couldn't agree more with you on your statements about Vanstone. I think he is one of the top writers in Canada. He's not afraid to openly praise them at one stroke of the pen and criticize them with another stroke. The only problem I have with him is his love affair with Burris. How much longer will we have to endure that!!!

About Me

This is mainly a Regina sports blog, but you will get information and thoughts from me on a number of topics some that aren't even sports related. You can see me on Access 7 in Regina co-hosting a local one hour sports program called Locker Talk highlighting Regina sports. You can hear me reading afternoon news and sports on 620 CKRM in Regina along with co-hosting "Sportscage" on same station from time to time. I'm also a part of Sask Roughriders broadcast on CKRM and I write feature articles for the Riders on their website Riderville.com.